“I’ve got PTSD, and I’ve seen enough death and destruction,” Hammons said. “And I didn’t want anything else to happen if I could prevent it.”

After returning to her vehicle, the woman reportedly began arguing that she had only left the dog alone for five minutes, a claim refuted by multiple witnesses.

“It wasn’t just five minutes like the lady stated, it was a lot longer,” Hammons said. “I personally felt the heat in the car; I saw the dog panting. This dog was in distress.”

Police say they had no choice but to arrest Hammons given the dog owner’s demands.

“We would not have made those charges on our own,” Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems said. “The deputies on scene say the owner of the dog and the car were very insistent that he be charged with criminal trespassing.”

Although the woman was cited for leaving the dog in the car by animal control, deputies were unable to determine exactly how long the canine was left alone due to a lack of surveillance video.

Despite being arrested, Hammons expressed no regret over his decision.

“I knew there’d be consequences, but it didn’t matter,” Hammons said. “Glass, they make new glass every day, but they could never replace that dog.”

About author

Filming Cops was started in 2010 as a conglomerative blogging service documenting police abuse. The aim isn’t to demonize the natural concept of security provision as such, but to highlight specific cases of State-monopolized police brutality that are otherwise ignored by traditional media outlets.